$6.4m of Rasif's loot found

[Taishi Ci]

Aug 17, 2010
$6.4m of Rasif's loot found

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

Lawyers involved told The Straits Times that police were able to track down the transfers of large sums of money from accounts operated by David Rasif (above). -- ST PHOTO: ALBERT SIM

EX-LAWYER David Rasif had tried to abscond with about $11.3 million in cash, gold and diamonds in 2006 but failed to get away with a big chunk of the loot. A district court heard on Tuesday that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) was able to recover $6.4 million in cash and gold here and abroad.

Lawyers involved told The Straits Times that police were able to track down the transfers of large sums of money from accounts operated by Rasif. The bank accounts in Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam that received the sums were then frozen and then the slow work of releasing the money back began, they said. Police also seized 40 of the 47 gold bars that Rasif, then 43, had bought for $1.65 million in June 2006.

A disposal inquiry will now be held on on Sept 20 for the court to decide on the rightful owners of the proceeds recovered. The biggest claimant for the recovered money is American couple Mr George Raymond Zage III and his wife Kaori Kathleen, represented by lawyer Toh Wei Yi. The husband and wife entrusted $11 million to Rasif's firm for the purchase of a property and lost all of it.

Mr R.S. Bajwa is acting for an Indonesian couple that lost $445,000 while Mr Nigel Pereira is representing the Law Society which has taken over the clients' accounts of Rasif's defunct law firm. Sincere Goldsmith and Golden Goldsmith had bought a total of seven gold bars from a man that got them from the two of Rasif's accomplices.

About 2kg of gold was subsequently seized by the police, and the goldsmiths have hired lawyers Wee Pan Lee and Tan Chye Kwee respectively to act on their claims amounting to a total of about $76,000. Rasif, who is sought by police for criminal breach of trust, is on Interpol's wanted list.

 

[Teo Kok Eng]

Never mind the $6.4 million.

He's not caught yet and he still has $4.9 million to play with.

Huat ah!

 

[Taishi Ci]

Court reduces sentence of man who said he was under threat to give false information


Court reduces sentence of man who said he was under threat to give false information

by Ong Dai Lin
12:56 AM Nov 20, 2010

Jailed a month for giving the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) false information, he appealed against the sentence saying he had been threatened.

Fortunately for property agent Francis Clinton Wong Chee Meng, 39, Justice Steven Chong believed him and reduced his jail sentence to a $1,000 fine. Wong had taken part in a cash-back scam involving runaway lawyer David Rasif.

When the CAD began investigations in 2005, one of the accomplices approached Wong and warned him not to reveal his involvement and to blame another person. Wong was interviewed by the police three times in 2006 and said each time that a different housing agent had suggested inflating the selling price of the flat.

He later pleaded guilty to charges of cheating and giving false information. He had told the court that he gave the false statements as the man had threatened to take revenge if anything happened to him.

Justice Chong said Wong's jail term was "fair", adding that had given Wong the benefit of the doubt. Wong was jailed two weeks and fined $1,000.

Ong Dai Lin